During this year several people and criminal groups were arrested and are currently facing convictions for the commission of crimes in which cryptocurrencies were involved.
In this way, cryptoactives began to be part of the news of events in many countries, which also highlighted the modus operandi that many criminals are adopting, which involves the theft of equipment for cryptocurrency mining, cyber attacks, data theft , and even kidnappings.
The mobile, in most of the cases described below, was to appropriate the cryptocurrencies for personal enrichment or to use them as a means of exchange, which is an indicator of the value that cryptoactives have acquired as a new form of digital money.
THE GREAT MINING ATTRACTION IN ICELAND
A group of 11 people were arrested in early 2018 for conducting a series of 4 robberies in various Icelandic locations (between December 2017 and January 2018), stealing powerful computers used for bitcoin mining. Of this group, two people were detained, while the others were released in the investigation process.
Last April, one of the detainees, named Sindri Thor Stefansson, who was in custody on the orders of a judge, escaped from an Icelandic low security prison and took a plane to Sweden. Then, in an unusual turn of the case, he sent a statement affirming his innocence. After being a fugitive for several months, he was extradited to Iceland
The "Big Bitcoin Heist" has been described as one of the biggest heists in Iceland and to date has not been resolved. The stolen equipment was valued (for that date) in almost USD 2 million and has not yet been found, reason that led the owners to offer a reward of $ 60,000 to whoever provides some information for their location.
TURKEY BAND THAT USED PHISHING
In early November, Turkey's police authorities detained eleven people accused of hacking the cryptocurrency portfolios of a group of users. The hackers stole bitcoins valued at 437 thousand Turkish liras, equivalent to 80 thousand US dollars.
The police body initiated investigations after receiving complaints from fourteen users, who reported illegal access to their cryptocurrency portfolios, as well as the theft of funds. The hackers acquired new GSM lines and registered them in the name of the victims using false driver's licenses. Then, using phishing, they entered the system and transferred the funds to multiple accounts to make tracking difficult.
Ten of the eleven detainees remain in jail awaiting trial, while one of them was released to remain under "judicial control". The investigation is ongoing and authorities are looking for more victims of the gang.
MERCHANT TRANSFER CRYPTOACTIVE TO YOUR ACCOUNT
The United States Commodities Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) last November sentenced Joseph Kim, a Bitcoin merchant (BTC) and Litecoin (LTC), to 15 months in prison, forcing him to pay a fine of 1, 14 million dollars, for fraud.
The charges against Kim were filed with the Northern District Court of the State of Illinois. The FBI and the Attorney General of the Northern District of Illinois were in charge of the investigation.
According to the court order, Kim worked for a company that made the purchase and sale of cryptoactives for its clients, and Kim was in charge of carrying out operations with BTC and LTC from September, until he was fired in November 2017. The company discovered that the defendant transferred approximately 339 BTC and 980 LTC to his personal account. Due to the actions of the merchant, the company lost an approximate of 601 thousand dollars.
HACKER ARGENTINO ROBABA CASAS DE CAMBIO
In Argentina, a cybercriminal was sentenced to two years in prison for having stolen 500 ethers in December 2017. The charges for which he received the sentence were "computer fraud" and "violation of secrets and identity."
Héctor Matias Predilailo, 36, was sentenced by Judge María Susana Gutiérrez, of the Superior Court of Justice of the Chaco, an Argentine province. The hacker pleaded guilty to having entered the system of a platform for the sale and safekeeping of cryptoactives, called Mercury Cash.
With this action, he managed to appropriate 500 ethers (ETH), which currently total about 60 thousand dollars. It is a pioneer sentence throughout the country, to involve the issue of cryptocurrencies.
USABA AUTHENTICATION OF TWO FACTORS
In Australia, after 10 months of investigation, last October a woman was arrested for the hacking and robbery of 100,000 ripples (XRP) in January 2018, with a value calculated for that date of almost half a million Australian dollars.
The 23-year-old stole the cryptocurrencies after hacking the e-mail of a 56-year-old man who had associated his account with the digital wallet containing the cryptoactives.
The police investigations determined that the woman and possibly other persons changed the password and then proceed to associate it with a mobile phone number. With this they enabled an authentication in two factors and then accessed the portfolio with cryptocurrencies. In this way, they transferred the 100,000 XRP to a house of exchange.
ROBBED ENERGY FOR MINING CRIPTOMONEDAS
In China, a man was sentenced to three and a half years in prison and fined 100,000 yuan (about $ 14,428) for stealing electric power from a railway company to mine cryptocurrencies.
The sentence was handed down on September 13, 2018 by the Railway Transportation Court of Datong, in the province of Shanxi.
The man was accused of stealing around 104,000 yuan (about $ 15,000) in electricity to power 50 mining equipment and three fans that were active 24 hours a day during November and December of last year. During its mining operations generated 3.2 bitcoins, about 120,000 yuan ($ 17,300).
SOLD INFORMATION IN CHANGE OF BITCOIN
Last September an agent of the Directorate General of Internal Security (DGSI), in France, was arrested and accused of selling confidential information to illegal groups, receiving in return payments with bitcoin.
Apparently, the agent, not identified, sold confidential data using the darknet to contact members of organized crime and economic intelligence specialists, using cryptocurrencies for negotiation. It is also suspected that he may have falsified administrative documents.
The detainee worked for a division that has important information in the DGSI of France for which he was aware of information that could be of interest to groups acting outside the law.
OPERATED WITH CRIPTOMONEDAS IN A DARKNET
In June 2018, the Spanish Civil Guard and the Austrian Federal Police, with the support of Europol, dismantled a criminal network that, through a Darknet, carried out transactions with cryptocurrencies, as part of a business dedicated to the production, processing and distribution of new psychoactive substances (NPS) and money laundering.
The band operated in several European cities and seized 509 BTC, in addition to € 137,000 in IOTA and € 30,000 in LUMEN. The investigations carried out determined that the NPS offer was made through two pages located in the Darknet and managed by the criminal network.
Among other forms of payment, the band accepted transfers of bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies in exchange for psychoactives. Once the payments were received, the cryptographic currencies were redistributed in different digital wallets.
SIM SECRET TO BUY LUXURY CARS
In August, California police arrested a hacker accused of hijacking phone numbers to steal cryptocurrencies in the town of Santa Clara, United States.
The subject, identified as Xzavyer Narváez, 19 years old, was discovered by the authorities after buying a McLaren 2018 car, paying partially with bitcoins. According to the records of the detainee's purchases, between March 12 and July 12 of this year, his account had a flow of 157 bitcoins.
The young man used the SIM exchange or SIM hijacking, by which he deceived the cell phone provider by posing as the customer, to request a new SIM card or activate one in his possession. Thus, it acquired control of the telephone line, restored passwords and accessed funds in cryptocurrencies.
Most of the funds stolen by Narváez were used to buy sports cars, because in addition to the McLaren, he bought a 2012 Audi R8 with bitcoins in June of last year.
KIDNAPPING OF CRIPTOMONED MINERS
The National Police and the Ficalía of Kiev, Ukraine, arrested two brothers for having kidnapped and stolen more than USD 50,000 from a citizen who mined cryptocurrencies.
The express kidnapping occurred last March in the Ukrainian capital. According to the press office of the prosecution, the criminals waited for the victim in the vicinity of his apartment, they boarded him upon arrival and took him out of the city. The subjects threatened him with death and demanded the keys to his apartment and to indicate where he had his savings.
The criminals took more than $ 50,000 in cash and freed the miner. The police managed to find his whereabouts after investigations and long-term operations. Now they are accused of robbery by prior agreement, intended to take possession of property in large quantities and could serve a sentence of 15 years in prison with confiscation of property.
